Page 40 of Blade

“Hi.”

I didn’t answer.

“I’m Becca. What’s your name?”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re new here, so you don’t have any friends yet. I can be your friend.”

I still didn’t answer.

Sighing, Becca just sat there.

I figured if I kept quiet, she would go away.

I was wrong.

“Listen, my grams says, I am te-na-sis. She says it means I don’t give up and always get what I want. So you should tell me your name, cuz I won’t go away till you do.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“How will we be friends if I don’t know your name?”

She didn’t get it.

“What if I don’t want friends?”

Her eyes went wide.

“Everybody wants friends.”

“I don’t.” I went back to eating my lunch, trying to ignore her. That wasn’t easy to do when she yelled to someone on the other side of the lunchroom.

“RYDER! Come here!”

A boy came running over. It made me think everyone came running when she yelled at them. That wasn’t good for me. I was lonely, and I would give in someday. I just knew it. That couldn’t happen, though. If I made friends here, we would leave again, and I was tired of leaving. I just wanted to stay in one place. I just wanted to be safe.

“Hey,” the boy, Ryder, said. “You new here?”

“Of course he’s new, dummy. You ever seen him here before? This is his first day, and he needs friends. He says he doesn’t want any, but everyone wants friends, right?”

“George doesn’t want friends.” Ryder looked over at a boy sitting at a table, eating his lunch alone.

“George is too mean to have friends,” Becca proclaimed, following Ryder’s gaze to look at George.

“Maybe I’m too mean to have friends. You don’t know,” I grumbled, hoping she would think I was right and leave me alone.

“Nope. I can tell you aren’t mean. I know these things.”

“She’s right. And she won’t go away, so you should just give in and be our friend. Becca always gets what she wants.”

I guess I was right about my first thought.

“Ok, class, lunch is over. Time for recess,” the teacher called as she got up from her seat. “Let’s clean up and get outside in the sunshine.”

I sighed. How was I going to get away from these two?

Looking up at Becca, she smiled at me.

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